Senior Technical Writer

When creating a document, a technical writer gathers information by studying existing material and interviewing subject matter experts. The technical writer also studies the audience to learn their needs as well as technical level.

Well-formed technical documents follow common publishing guidelines. Technical documentation comes in all styles as well as formats, depending on the medium. Printed documentation has different standards from online documentation.

Usually, technical writers follow formatting conventions described in a standard style guide. In the US, most technical writers use the Chicago Manual of Style . Many companies have their own corporate style guides, typically extensions of the to cover specific corporate issues. One of these, the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications is even used by some other companies.

Engineering projects particularly defense or aerospace related projects, often follow national along with international documentation standards—such as like us for civil aircraft.

Technical writers often work as part of a writing or project development team. In most of the cases, after the writer finishes a draft of the documentation one or more STR review it for accuracy and completeness. This is sometimes referred to as 'peer review' of the 'verification'. In some cases the writer or some others test the document on audience members.

The role of the technical writer in the project teams is to develop the overall project documentation as other members of the team develop other areas of theproject. For example as a member of a project development team, as engineers designs as well as integrate a system the technical writer generates the manuals that go with the system.